Student Bunting Brightens the Health Centre

For my NCEA Level 3 Materials Technology course I decided to make a wall hanging for the Health Centre. The idea came to me at the beginning of the year when I first saw the freshly painted walls in the refurbished Health Centre.

I started the process by approaching Mrs Peterson for approval. Then I worked with Nurse Nikki to discuss specifications and ideas. One of Nurse Nikki’s main requirements was to have the words ‘Health Centre’ written on the bunting.

I posted a message on Schoology asking for scrap fabrics and had an enthusiastic response from a helpful member of staff who gave me a full bag of material. I picked the fabrics that I liked and selected a colour theme that would complement the interior design of the health centre.

For the letters on the bunting, I used three different techniques to put them onto the fabric. I experimented with embossing circle shapes using a fabric crayon, fabric appliqué in the shape of letters, and oil-based crayon.

I faced some obstacles when making the bunting, such as the background fabric, which had some stretch in it. This caused problems with embossing as the fabric stretched past the embossing template making the outcome unpredictable.

I then used white webbing on the top of the bunting to string it all together and make the colourful letters catch the eye. I was very pleased with the results as it looks very professional and well-constructed strung on the wall.

The whole process took about six months, including the modelling and completion of the paper work for the internal assessment. I really enjoyed the creative process and working with a client on a real project. These are skills I can use in the future.